2008 Woodie Awards
UNO, McCalebb snap Blue Raiders' winning streak
Yates scores career-high 30 points in first home loss since Dec. 29
Chris Martin
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Sports
A four-game winning streak was not in the cards for Middle Tennessee when it fell at home to the New Orleans Privateers 82-75 in overtime on Saturday.
The Blue Raiders (7-10, 4-3 Sun Belt) held a 64-58 lead with 39 seconds left in regulation before the Privateers (14-5, 5-2 SBC) stormed back and tied the game when James Parlow scored on a putback as time expired to make the contest 66-66.
MT ran out of depth on the bench in overtime and was outscored 16-9. The Blue Raiders played the extra stanza without starting guards Nigel Johnson and Kevin Kanaskie, both of whom had fouled out, and were forced to play freshman guard Broderick Gilchrest. To make matters worse for MT, starting center Theryn Hudson did not play due to a foot injury, which meant the Blue Raiders had to play the overtime period without three starters.
"We didn't have our two point guards, Nigel [Johnson] and Kevin [Kanaskie], on the floor to run the offense," freshman guard Josh Sain said. "It was hard to do anything."
MT experienced trouble at the line towards the end of the game, missing five of their last nine free throw attempts. Overall, the Blue Raiders only knocked down 58.4 percent of their 24 free throws, compared to UNO's 73.3 percent on 30 attempts.
"It boils down to simple things," MT head coach Kermit Davis said. "If we just make free throws, the other parts don't really matter. We had the game in hand, and all we had to do was hit free throws. We can talk about who fouled out and this and that, but if we make free throws, it's game over."
Redshirt sophomore Desmond Yates set a new career-high in points with 30. That is six points better than his previous career-best of 24, which he set in MT's previous game against the Troy Trojans on Jan. 16. Yates shot 12-of-20 from the field and also had five rebounds.
"He's playing as good as any big guy in our league," Davis said. "He can take New Orleans' big guys and go off the dribble and drive into the paint. For a sophomore, he's going to be a special guy. There were two great players on the floor tonight in McCalebb and Desmond Yates. I don't care what level you are watching, you are watching two high-level guys."
The Blue Raiders (7-10, 4-3 Sun Belt) held a 64-58 lead with 39 seconds left in regulation before the Privateers (14-5, 5-2 SBC) stormed back and tied the game when James Parlow scored on a putback as time expired to make the contest 66-66.
MT ran out of depth on the bench in overtime and was outscored 16-9. The Blue Raiders played the extra stanza without starting guards Nigel Johnson and Kevin Kanaskie, both of whom had fouled out, and were forced to play freshman guard Broderick Gilchrest. To make matters worse for MT, starting center Theryn Hudson did not play due to a foot injury, which meant the Blue Raiders had to play the overtime period without three starters.
"We didn't have our two point guards, Nigel [Johnson] and Kevin [Kanaskie], on the floor to run the offense," freshman guard Josh Sain said. "It was hard to do anything."
MT experienced trouble at the line towards the end of the game, missing five of their last nine free throw attempts. Overall, the Blue Raiders only knocked down 58.4 percent of their 24 free throws, compared to UNO's 73.3 percent on 30 attempts.
"It boils down to simple things," MT head coach Kermit Davis said. "If we just make free throws, the other parts don't really matter. We had the game in hand, and all we had to do was hit free throws. We can talk about who fouled out and this and that, but if we make free throws, it's game over."
Redshirt sophomore Desmond Yates set a new career-high in points with 30. That is six points better than his previous career-best of 24, which he set in MT's previous game against the Troy Trojans on Jan. 16. Yates shot 12-of-20 from the field and also had five rebounds.
"He's playing as good as any big guy in our league," Davis said. "He can take New Orleans' big guys and go off the dribble and drive into the paint. For a sophomore, he's going to be a special guy. There were two great players on the floor tonight in McCalebb and Desmond Yates. I don't care what level you are watching, you are watching two high-level guys."
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